Major League Baseball

Report: Cuban might buy part of Mets

Published Feb. 3, 2011 12:00 a.m. ET

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Mark Cuban says the Mets should feel free to ask him if he wants to own part of their team, because he would be open to listening, the New York Post reported Thursday.

The Dallas Mavericks' billionaire owner — one of sports' most charismatic, eccentric and outspoken team proprietors — said he is willing to listen if the Mets want to talk with him about buying a share of the team, but said he will not pursue it on his own because of previous failed bids to buy a MLB team.

"If they want to sit down and sell me on it, I can be a willing buyer and a willing customer," Cuban said before his Mavericks crushed the Knicks, 113-97 at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday. "But I'm not going to be a bidder on anything."

The 51-year-old, whose net worth is $2.3 billion according to Forbes, said he has not heard anything from the Mets. Cuban said he has not done any research to know if he would have a legitimate interest in the Mets, but he still has a desire to own a baseball team.

"For any baseball team, I'm not going to chase after it," Cuban said. "If someone sees me as a potential owner, I'll take their call and discuss a deal. I'm not going to get into a bidding situation ever again. I'm not going to be in a situation where I make the proposal and they just go through with it.

"Obviously, I feel like I'd be a good team owner in baseball, but I'm not going to go through the same process I did with the Rangers and the Cubs."

Cuban submitted a $581 million bid for the Texas Rangers last year, according to the Dallas Morning News, but lost out to Nolan Ryan and Chuck Greenberg's $593 million proposal.

"We had a limit on what we could spend," Cuban told the paper.

Mets ownership has said it is looking to sell only 20-25 percent of the franchise, which could present an obstacle. Cuban said he doubts he would be willing to buy in without majority control unless he has future buying rights.

"You take a small part of something that makes a ton of money, if the price is right, no matter who you are. But I don't know the specifics of it, so I couldn't say," said Cuban, whose Mavericks are on pace to make the playoffs for an 11th straight season.

The Mets announced the potential sale last Friday amid court proceedings related to their dealings with investment fraudster Bernie Madoff.

According to court filings, the Mets' owners, the Wilpon family, could be forced to surrender tens of millions of dollars in profits they made with Madoff.

The Wilpons have consistently said that they were among the victims of Madoff's Ponzi scheme, and insist the matter will have no effect on the team's finances going forward.

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